PURE

Tabitha and her four friends all wear purity rings. As tweens, they made a pledge to preserve their virginity until marriage. The girls’ lives are relatively drama-free, spent mostly analyzing crushes, going to extracurricular activities and figuring out what to wear. When one of the girls in the group breaks her pledge, the dynamics among the girls change. Morgan, Tabitha’s closest friend within the circle, is outraged by the other girl’s lack of fidelity and wants her ostracized immediately. Confused by matters of her own faith, Tabitha is forced to decide if she wants to forgive her friend or go with the group. The idea of purity rings and the deep commitment behind it is deftly explored, though the girls themselves prove to be rather vanilla in their characterizations. Even at the height of the climax, the tension fails to build. It is moralistically predictable as well: The girl whose purity is compromised is eventually left by her boyfriend and finds her relationships with friends and family suffer. A squeaky-clean exploration of faith that reads like a watered-down Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. (Fiction. 12 & up)